Boats carried by trailers may be launched in a body of water by moving the trailer onto an inclined ramp which extends downwardly into the body of water, and then sliding the boat off of the then inclined trailer onto the body of water. Similarly, the boat may be recovered from the body of water, with the trailer positioned on the ramp, by driving the boat onto the trailer, and then removing the boat and the trailer so carried by the trailer from the body of water by withdrawal up the ramp.
During the recovery operation, a decouplable retaining means is employed to prevent the boat sliding off of the inclined trailer when the trailer is removed. This may also be used for purposes of retention of the boat on the trailer during transport. The retaining means may be in the form of a flexible rope, chain, strap or the like that is releasably couplable to the boat and to a fixed part of the trailer. Commonly, the link is a strap which can be wound on and off a rotatable drum of a winch attached to the trailer at the forward end of the trailer, which end is at a relatively high location when the trailer is positioned on the boat ramp for recovery of the boat. Then, the recovery procedure involves driving the boat up the partly submerged trailer until a forward end of the boat is adjacent to the winch, attaching the strap, and then winding the strap onto the winch drum by operation of the winch until any slack in the strap is taken up. Alternatively, the boat may be maneuvered to a location close to the trailer, and the winch used to pull the boat onto the trailer.
In either event, after securing the boat, the trailer can be moved up the ramp, e.g. by towing with a suitable attached vehicle, so that the boat is pulled on the trailer from the body of water, with the winch strap preventing the boat from sliding rearwardly off of the trailer during that operation. With a boat so retained on a trailer, the boat may be launched by backing the towing vehicle so that the trailer passes down an inclined boat ramp until at least the lower part of the rear end of the boat enters the body of water, releasing the boat from the winch strap and then moving the boat off of the ramp and onto the body of water, by sliding the boat off of the trailer, possibly by operation of a motor of the boat to effect reverse movement of the boat.
Retrieval of a boat in the above described way may involve that a boat crewman get off of the boat to connect the winch strap and operate the winch. In so doing, and before the boat is properly tethered to the trailer, there is risk the boat may float off of the trailer, and if there is no other crewman on board, retrieval may be difficult or even impossible.
There needs to be a simple means to tether a boat to a trailer that can be attached and released without manual intervention to allow a solitary person to launch and recover a boat whilst remaining in the boat thus avoiding the danger of the boat floating away unmanned.
The object of the invention is to overcome the above problem or at least provide the public with a useful alternative.